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YVR named best airport in North America by Skytrax for 8th straight year

Author of the article:

Chuck Chiang

Publishing date:

March 14, 2017 • 2 minute read

Global aviation consultant Skytrax has again named Vancouver International Airport as the best airport in North America, officials said, marking YVR’s eighth straight year at the top of the regional airport rankings.Max Lindenthaler/ PNG

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Global aviation consultant Skytrax has again named Vancouver International Airport as the best airport in North America, officials said, marking YVR’s eighth straight year at the top of the regional airport rankings.

YVR is among the 230-plus North American airports assessed by Skytrax over a nine-month period from last June, and the survey covered 39 different parts of an airport’s operations – ranging from check-in and shopping/dining to security, signage and cleanliness.

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Craig Richmond, president and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority, was at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport for the award announcement, said he was surprised by the victory and deemed it a good litmus test of YVR’s ability to handle growth. He noted that Skytrax’s assessment period covered the airport during a time it added 2 million passengers, while also including peak travel periods like Christmas.

“Last year, over 13 million people voted (in the survey)… so it is not a snapshot in time, but a real census on the entire airport experience,” Richmond said. “It’s not something you can win by just dressing up for a week… and we think this is a very robust test of how we are doing.”

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The annual Skytrax rankings is a reflection of a highly competitive airport industry, where various facilities are constantly investing in terminal upgrades, fee incentives for airlines and other improvements to draw carriers, in a bid to create hub traffic that trickles down to a wide range of retail and service sector economies.

Last year, YVR’s closest competitors on the Skytrax’s North American rankings include Denver (2nd), San Francisco (4th), Toronto-Pearson (6th) and Seattle-Tacoma (7th). Among those, Sea-Tac has already announced an intention to increase the capacity of their south satellite terminal – used for international flights – to boost competitiveness. Meanwhile, others like Calgary just opened a new international terminal last fall – with the expressed aim on drawing that same market.

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YVR’s passenger count hit a record 22.3 million last year – an increase of 2 million from 2015 – and a large part of it was the addition of Chinese airlines like Beijing Capital and Xiamen Air, bring the number of Chinese air carriers operating in Vancouver up to six, the highest among North American airports.

“It’s nice to be able to say we are among the top, but the real reward is to be able to get the airlines,” Richmond said.

“For me, the fact we are pulling in more Chinese airlines than other airports, that’s the real win. That’s the real value to B.C., because that’s what’s filling the hotels, bringing in business and goods to B.C.”

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One area of improvement for next year, Richmond notes, is the security line-up. He added he is hopeful that the federal budget coming out later this month will include more funds for the Canadian Air Transport Security Agency (CATSA), which could potentially boost YVR’s popularity with travellers even higher.

“We would really like to get those (security ranking) numbers up, because that’s a big source of dissatisfaction for people, if they have to stand in the line-ups,” he said. “If we can support our security numbers, that’s really important, because we don’t control that.”

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